~Y/n pov~
Mirai followed the trail of sweets without a thought.
Who knew such a simple plan would work.
"Got you." Amane cheered.
"Eh?" She frowned, "In that case, I'll make this girl cuter!"
My eyes widened in shock as she leapt at Nene.
I quickly grabbed Nene but it was too late.
Mirai had touched her. Nothing changed as expected.
Placing two fingers on her forehead, I made her faint - a trick Tsukasa had taught me.
Hopefully, she wouldn't remember.
I lifted her into my arms. Amane stood worriedly by my side.
"I can't move her time forward. Does this mean...she had no time left?"
Kou gasped, "No more time left.... Oi, Hanako! What's that supposed to be?"
"It means just what it sounds, young man." A cloaked figure placed his hand on Kou's head.
Kou went back to his normal age. So this is the last clock keeper?
"Well, well. Look who finally decided to grace us with his presence." Akane sighed, "We wouldn't have had to deal with any of this if you were here from the start... you really are twisted, Kako."
The apparition, now known as Kako, chuckled, "Please I am never late. Because all I have to do is turn back time, and everything returns to its former state."
"Turn back time? He's the third?" Kou asked.
Akane nodded, "The clock keeper who governs the past. He has the power to turn back time. He's kind of our leader."
"So you call him Kako because it means past?"
"Shouldn't you be more concerned about something else?" Akane stared at Kou.
Kou gasped, "Yashiro! Is she okay?"
Amane and I stayed silent.
The boy only stared at us expectantly.
"I told you. I told you not to let the clock keeper touch Yashiro. I told you to be careful.." Amane frowned as he stared at Nene's limp body in my arms.
I gently placed her down against the wall as she peacefully slept, unaware of the whole situation.
Amane sniffled. I could tell he was holding back tears.
He leant into me as I wrapped my arm around his waist.
"Kou..."
The boy in question looked at me, waiting for a response.
"Nene, doesn't have much time left. She'll die within the next year." I told him.
It hurt me just as much as it hurt him.
Nene has been my best friend this whole time. I had no memories.
Yet, I had Nene. She was a constant in my life and the thought of losing her...it breaks my heart.
But there's nothing I can do.
If only I knew I was dead sooner...I wouldn't have got so attached.
"How long have you known?" Kou yelled angrily.
"I've only known since recently but..." I trailed off as I stared down at Amane.
He say anything, instead he presses his face into my neck. He probably couldn't bring himself to face us all.
I rubbed his back soothingly as he relaxed into my touch.
Kou frowned, "Have you known since the beginning, Hanako?"
Amane collected himself and finally turned to face Kou.
"Yeah." He breathed, "The only people who can summon me are those close to the far shore. In other words, those who are close to death. People with powerful sixth sense like you can also summon me."
"How can you say that? Why didn't you say anything?"
Amane's face went blank, "How am I supposed to act? 'You're gonna die soon, but live your life to the fullest until then, 'kay?!' Is that what I should've said."
Kou just stared in shock.
~*~
Time got turned back.
That means that everyone except apparitions and people with high spiritual power would forget anything ever happened.
And then, everything went back.
Nene was now awake.
"You solved everything while I was unconscious?" Nene asked Kou.
He nodded.
I walked away from the doorway and headed to the broadcasting room.
~*~
As soon as I walked to the door, Tsukasa clung to me.
"I missed you~" He whined, resting his head on my shoulder.
"I was only gone for a few days..."
"A few days too long." He pouted, "Don't go again."
I chuckled, "Fine."
Gently, I ran my hand through his hair.
Tsukasa grinned, nuzzling his head into my hand.
"What do you want to do?"
He perked up, "Let's play something."
Then, we were teleported to his boundary.
"So, what do you wanna play?"
"Hide and seek."
"You'll have to get off me if you want to play something."
Tsukasa huffed before getting off me, "Okay, you count!"
I turned and started counting.
"One, two, three....... ready or not here I come." I slowly counted to twenty before turning around.
He probably wasn't in the boundary.
I teleported back to the broadcasting room, quickly searching the room.
Not here...
~*~
I searched everywhere but the girls bathroom.
Did he ditch me to hang out with Amane? Figures..
I huffed, pushing open the bathroom door.
Amane was sat on the windowsill, staring out at the scenery.
He turned towards the door when he heard it open.
His expression was gloomy but his eyes lit up slightly upon seeing me.
I sat down beside him, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah.." he said unconvincingly.
I raised my eyebrow at him, "I know you're lying, but if you don't want to talk about it you don't have to."
Amane leant into me, resting his head on my shoulder.
I heard him sniffle. I pulled him towards me, wrapping my arm around his waist.
He sniffled more, pressing his face into my side.
"If it's about Nene...I feel the same way too. I don't want to loose her. She's been by my side for as long as
I can remember. The thought of loosing her is.."
Tears welled up in my eyes. Bringing my hand up, I wiped them away quickly.
Amane looked up at me, "Yeah. That's what I'm thinking about. I feel guilty but there's nothing I can do about it. When you all came, we all started hanging out. It felt like having friends again...."
I pulled him into a hug, "Yeah, I got attached too. If only there was something we could do."
One of the stall doors was suddenly flung open, making us both jump.
We both quickly turned towards the door and saw Tsukasa stood there.
Did Amane not know he was there? He must've teleported here and hid.
He had tears in his eyes. He rubbed his eyes with his hands and sniffled.
"Tsukasa?"
He flew towards us quickly, jumping into my arms.
Amane had moved out of the way in time.
"I thought we were playing hide and seek..."
It's clear he was also upset, but not because of Nene.
He was probably more upset because we were both upset.
His body shook as he sat curled up in my lap.
I gently stroked his back as he cried into my arms.
Amane wrapped his arms around Tsukasa from the side and rested his head on my shoulder.
I rested my head on Tsukasa's head as we all cried.
~*~
It was the end of the day, I was sat on the roof with Amane.
Tsukasa had reluctantly left, telling us he had something he needed to do.
"Hanako? Y/n?"
I turned to see Nene smiling cheerfully at us.
Smiling sadly, I listened to what she had to say.
"I've looked everywhere for you too. Where were you?"
"Oh, you know...nothing." Amane sighed before going to his cheerful demeanour, "Anyway, how can I help you?"
"Guess what?" She continued without pausing to let us guess, "It's a love letter!"
Nene held it up towards us excitedly.
"Eh? Really?" I asked her.
She nodded eagerly, "It's my first one in my whole life! When I got back from lunch, there it was inside my desk."
Amane took it off her and skimmed through the content of the letter while I peered over his shoulder.
"The sender didn't sign it." Nene continued to gush, "It says he just wanted to tell me he loves me! You always tease me for having radish legs... but now I know people do find me attractive."
Amane didn't reply so I nudged him.
"Huh? Oh, sorry."
"You seem kind of down.." she trailed off, staring at us, "Both of you."
"Ghosts have their worries too." He simply responded.
Nene sighed, "You're right."
She smirked at us as we both stared at her confused.
"What?" I asked.
Her smiled grew as she started to fantasise.
"Calm down." I gently patted her head.
She laughed.
"Oh yeah... your love letter was addressed to Aoi." Amane smirked, handing it to her.
Nene snatched it off him to see for herself.
Tears welled up in her eyes as she squatted down, pouting.
"That was my first love letter!!"
Kou suddenly ran onto the rooftop and saw Nene sulking.
"What did you do?" He asked accusingly.
"Nothing." Amane laughed.
Kou knelt down beside her, hugging her.
Nene's cheeks turned red.
I smiled at them. I'm sure everything will work out fine...somehow.
~*~
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1539 words
A/n most of the fluff is depressing. I promise there will be some happy moments.